The Lost Treasure

The Fortune Hunters arrive in Hawaii to two things - a huge luau, and a quest for Drake's Gold, believed lost aboard the fabled lost ship Teresá.

Recommended Plane
As the first mission in the game, your aircraft choice is restricted at this early stage. However, since the mission involves a little barnstorming and a little air combat, the Devastator is a good choice anyway.

Recommended Loadout
With only a little combat, bring a single load of HE for the Gorgon and fill your other hardpoints with flak for the Kestrels.

Walkthrough
Your first mission! A conversation with the crew starts, and ends with Nathan telling his wingman (or winglady, it is Betty right now) to keep eyes peeled for the treasure. He then spots a cliff opening ahead and it’s a site you’ll need to check on.

Fly through the opening in the cliff directly in front of you. When you fly through it, a nice jazzy tune will play, and you’ll say about an old altar down there, with “golden” secrets.

After the fly though you'll see 3 jeeps and a fuel truck on a bridge directly ahead. If you continue forward and fly closer, a radio message from the jeeps and fuel truck will ring in, and it’s the British! They warn you to leave and begin firing their guns at you. Stay low, and either shoot a stream of bullets or use a rocket on the fuel truck somewhere in the center of the bridge. Either way it blows and destroys the bridge, along with the jeeps on it. When they’re down Betty will taunt them, and so do you. If you see them immediately you can just fire at once to prevent them from saying their warning.

Fly by the camp. It’s another site you need to check in. After flying by, Nathan will radio to Betty about it. She asks on checking it out and he confirms.

Fly over the crescent-shaped peninsula reef atoll. A shipwreck will be there. This is the treasure site. Betty will tell Nathan and he agrees, where he tells the passenger (it’s Jack) of his plane to get ready and bail out to check. You will need to make a second pass so Nathan can drop off Jack. Fly pass it again and you’ll then see a cutscene of the plane rolling away while Jack parachutes out onto the Teresá.

Nathan will radio and tell Jack to let the crew know of what he finds. He confirms the treasure is there, and Sparks radios in, saying he will come over. Another radio message cuts in from nowhere and demands everyone to scram (it’s the Medusas!). A group of planes will then show up; 3 Kestrels and a Cargo Transport Zep. Nathan tells off that Medusa talker and you should begin your fight with the Kestrels coming in from behind the Zep. You can then either take out the Zep or handle its fighters. But how do you take out the Zep? Sometime later Betty will spot extra fuel tanks (shown are giant boxes of marked ‘hydrogen’) on that Zep at the cargo area (lower front). She laughs that it has “Shoot me” written all over it. Yup, destroy the Zep by firing a rocket or constantly shooting at that spot of the Zep where the fuel tanks are. Do that or take out the fighters.

Blowing up the fuel tanks will set off hydrogen and destroy the Zep soon enough. Once you take out the fighters and the Zep you’ll be done for the day. Head back to the PANDORA and when you’re close to it, Sparks radios in telling Nathan he is clear to land. Sparks will ask about whether everyone is now rich, to which Nathan tells him that time will tell.

Stunts
Three stunts in this level


 * 1) Directly ahead from the beginning of the level - fly through the cave. Slow down, keep level, and use your rudder to turn through it.
 * 2) After flying through the cave, follow the valley to the west. On the valley floor is a narrow concrete-lined gap covered in palm trees. It is possible to fly through the tiny gap presented there. Practise, practise. It is not possible to do it with typical planes with their wingspan being too wide, but it can be done nonetheless, with smaller planes.
 * 3) You can shoot a spot on the outside rim of the crescent island. This will lower the water level on the inside and also expose the tunnel you shot open. You can then fly through it.

Logbook items
(first page)
 * A “Global Travellers’ Quarterly” magazine about the altar discovered, that even includes an interview with Nathan himself.
 * Aloha Daily newspaper clipping on “Pirates Blast Brits!” where the blewn bridge with the British on was covered.
 * A Spanish Galleon coin.

(second page)
 * A wanted poster of Justine “Battleaxe” Perot.
 * A page of Sir Francis Drake’s diary of his presence on the island.
 * A film company’s letter to Nathan and payment information.

Trivia

 * Circle around the southern side of the peninsula reef atoll where the wreck is and there will be a tower-like monument. Below that monument, at the water level there's a wall. Blast this and water will come rushing out. The water level inside the peninsula structure will now be lower. It is possible to fly through this hole now. It is not an official stunt, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. However, given the size of this hole it is only big enough for a small plane like a Bloodhawk or an Autogyro Hoplite.


 * The cargo zep that the Medusas commandeer here, strangely can be affected by Aerial Torpedoes even if it is not encountered and unlocked, allowing destruction of it's gas bags. However, the game will still require the fuel tanks to be destroyed for the mission to be completed.


 * Likewise, the Pandora can be affected by the aerial torpedoes; if the Pandora is destroyed the mission will be failed.


 * Similar to all zeppelins, the engines and turrets on the cargo zep can be shot down.


 * It is possible to bypass all the sites and head straight for the wreckage site and progress faster through the game. However, items on the logbook related to the sites that were not explored will not appear.